When the child's 26-year-old mother left briefly to use the bathroom, the macaque monkey entered into the house, took the baby and fled to the roof, according to the newspaper. The girl's badly bitten body was later found outside.

"We frantically searched all over the house and saw her body covered in blood lying outside the house," the baby's grandfather, A. Valaythan, told the newspaper.

The incident occurred in Negri Sembilan state.

Wildlife official Ishak Muhamad told The Associated Press that the monkey may have been attracted by a female pet monkey the family kept in a cage.

Malaysian authorities have battled a booming macaque population in cities.However, plans to catch them and export them for food and scientific research were scrapped in 2008 after officials discovered most of them were riddled with disease.